Heroes Rising
by princessbinas
Summary: (Sequel to "Accident: Month One") With the first month long gone, Danny and his friends and family now have to deal with getting used to their new lives and prepare for the adventures that are being thrown at them from every angle, both possible and impossible. Boy will this be one heck of a thriller ride for everyone. Rated for innuendos and certain subject that may come.
1. Movie Horrors

**Binas** : Here is the long waited sequel to "Accident: Month One". What actually happens will have a high chance of drastically being different due to the changes I had made in the last story like Danny's parents knowing and Jazz finding out sooner. The overall plot of Danny becoming a hero is still in full swing. I will try to throw in a few curve balls to keep things interesting and try to bring in some mature subjects. No, I will **_not_** be doing smut- that's just gross. I will, however, try to do things among the lines of dealing with loss and stuff like that. Something we can all relate to. I mean, we all have lost someone or something close, right?

Which reminds me, when the time comes, things are going to get pretty crazy. How crazy? You will have to find out, that is unless you have some sort of psychic powers or the ability to see through time. Then there is the fact you may be able to guess from my writing style and the trend my stories follow when they don't adhere purely to transcripts.

Special thanks to one of my old high school friends for helping me with a good chunk of this story.

* * *

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* * *

"Dad," Danny asked with confused eyes, "What the heck are you doing?"

"C'mon, Danny-boy," Jack said patting Danny's back, "Can't let your old man surprise you anymore, can't ya?"

Jack immediately went back to work on what he was working on, which happened to be taking apart an old, dented, hand-held vacuum cleaner. How it even got dented was only known by Danny. The only reason why he was the only one who knew was he had accidentally busted its dust collecting chamber in one of his many intangibility screw ups. Not a pretty sight in the end. The entire room he was in that day became caked in a thick layer of dust and fine particles. It also helped that his parents were away at an interview, so he had plenty of time to patch it up as best as he could.

Now that his dad had modified it, it was no longer dented, but that didn't mean there were still a likelihood it would cause some sort of trouble. Then there was the other part that worried Danny: what it was likely going to be modified for. While his parents accept Danny and the fact he is now a hybrid, there was always the lingering fear that something would go horribly wrong and cause everything to fall apart. Okay, Danny had to admit that last part was a bit of an over-exaggeration, but hey, with his crazy life, _anything_ could happen.

Danny bit his lip and braced himself as his dad finished the trickiest part of the invention: Wiring the mechanism together. His dad is known for how easily he could make a slightly tricky a bit complicated, and wasn't because he was always making mess as the invention went- -

 ** _BOOM!_**

Danny quickly grabbed his dad and turned the both of them intangible. The debris and now useless pieces of scrap metal went flying as the invention exploded. A large chunk of components covered in fried duct tape fell in front of the father and son blatantly. Danny _tried_ not to look suspicious as Jack blinked at the fact it was covered in duct tape.

"Who makes a vacuum cleaner motor with duct tape?" Jack asked as he narrowed his eyes. "That's stupid!"

"Yeah..." Danny chuckled nervously. "Totally stupid! And... Uh... Dangerous?"

Jack carefully picked up the motor. He turned around, wanting to say something to Danny. Danny instantly rushed out of the lab, afraid his dad had figured out what happened to the vacuum cleaner.

"I was going to tell him to throw it in the shed, but what the heck!" Jack said and threw the motor into a random box.

* * *

It had been at least two weeks since the Lunch Lady Ghost attack, and so far, Danny's progress on his powers had improved very nicely. Now he didn't accidentally go back into human form whenever he was distracted or fatigued as often as he had before which was a good thing. Another good thing was the fact his accidental intangibility phase was almost over. This was given away by the fact he was no longer phasing randomly through various objects (such as the floor) or turning invisible at inconvenient times. Sure there was one or two hiccups caused by hormones and/or embarrassment, but improvement was improvement.

Also during that time period, Maddie found out that Danny could overshadow people (and theoretically inanimate objects and other living things). It took a while for her to figure it out, but when Maddie realized it was her son in her husband's body (it took her trying to kiss "Jack" on the lips), she wasn't very amused. Even less so when she made Danny cough up the reason behind it (which was preventing Jack from learning about a parent-teacher conference when he was upset). She told Danny not to let her catch him overshadowing anyone (especially Jack, his teachers, the principal, or herself) again, or she would put a ghost shield around Danny's room or find a way to make a bracelet that would cancel out his powers without hurting him.

On the side, Jazz was doing her best at trying to help from the shadows (AKA helping without hunting ghosts down). She had done things to help Danny like slipping a thermos into Danny's backpack just in case he forgot to put it there. Another act of helping was studying some of the blueprints to some of the inventions that their parents made. If she knew how they worked, she could protect Danny from accidentally getting hurt like he did during the Fenton Lipstick Incident (he tried to sniff it out of curiosity, thinking it was a new lipstick scent).

However, she knew that the best thing she could do was be there for him, no matter what. If he needed advice, she would give it to the best of her ability. If he needed a hug and some support, she was willing to give that as well. If he wanted to hide Bearbert like he did when he was ten, that would be a no and for a good reason too. She may not play with Bearbert anymore, she still considered it a piece of her past that she wanted to keep as a reminder. And same went for using her car when he gets his learner's permit or driver's license. Then again he could fly, so it would be kind of silly for him to need to use a car.

As for Jack and Maddie, adjusting to Danny being half of what they hunted with passion was a bit complicated. There were days were it was easy to forget Danny even had ghost powers (which either led to Danny catching them off guard or him accidentally getting hurt) and other days where Maddie tried to keep him out of the lab even if they weren't working on something that would hurt ghosts or disable their abilities. Then there were days were Jack did something Oscar worthy. By that, he did something reckless and dragged his unwilling son into it, leading to massive embarrassment on Danny's part, especially if it was in public. The time he accidentally put fudge in a prototype bazooka and went to go test it out in the open definitely counted. Him saying "I didn't mean for that to happen" didn't help the situation at all that day.

So here was the present day, beginning slowly like a turtle as the sun began to loom over the horizon. The early Saturday sun began to spread its rays through Danny's window and into his bedroom. Danny tossed in his slumber to face the other direction to get his eyes away from the sun's bright glare. Just as his sleeping form got comfortable again, his alarm clock went off. Danny cracked open his irritated, tired eyes and glared at the alarm clock. He swatted at it, failing to hit the snooze button several times. After about ten tries, he finally silenced the irritating device. With a small, content smile, he slipped his arm back under the covers and tried to go back to sleep.

However, that was not meant to be. His ghost sense went off. He groaned in irritation as he threw his bedsheets to the side. His hair was a disheveled mess (more so than usual) from his restless sleep. One peek out the window and he saw one of the weirdest sights he had ever seen. It was a parade of various types of boxes flying down the streets.

' _You have got to be kidding me..._ ' Danny thought. ' _Do I HAVE to deal with this NOW?!_ '

With an incoherent grumble, Danny climbed out of bed and wiped the crap out of his eyes.

"I'm going ghost..." Danny said flatly with yawn.

With that, he transformed and flew outside through the wall. Wasting no time in hopes that he would be able to climb back into bed before his parents tried to drag him out, he flew in the direction the boxes were heading. Every box bobbled as they flew below Danny's flight path. They ranged from simple cardboard boxes (which the majority of them were) to jewelry boxes and various crates. What they contained greatly varied. Some contained the obvious, others carried unexpected things like pipes, and smaller boxes held the latest PDAs, iPhones, Portals 10 Phones, and Androids. Danny also swore he saw a dirt filled box with a plant in it.

It took five minutes of following a bunch of boxes just to find out where they were going. They were heading to an abandoned, unkempt warehouse that was covered in cobwebs, mold, moss, dirt, dust, and trash. There was even a barbed wire fence surrounding the place completed with numerous "KEEP OUT" and "NO TRESPASSING" signs.

"How cliché can you get?" Danny asked as he stared at the run down warehouse. "What is with bad guys and abandoned warehouses? You know what, that doesn't matter."

Danny flew over the barbed wire fences and phased into the abandoned warehouse. Around him in the spacious building floated hundreds, maybe even thousands, of boxes. He couldn't exactly tell, but all he knew, whoever was stealing them needed to be stopped. Just as when Danny was going to begin searching the warehouse for the culprit, he heard the hammiest, worst evil laugh he had ever heard. In fact, it sounded flat out _dorky_.

Out of thin air (literally), a chubby blue ghost with black hair appeared. He wore blue overalls, tiny black boots, and a blue beanie. He wore an evil grin on his face as he wiggled his fingers in a menacing way.

"Beware, for I'm the Box Ghost!" the ghost bellowed. "You, young specter, should have stayed away from this warehouse! Now you shall face your doom!"

Danny fought to hold back his laughter. He couldn't believe this ghost was being serious at all. First of all, The Box Ghost was trying way too hard to sound scary. And second, the ghost's name was ridiculous too! It didn't take long for Danny to lose control and burst out laughing. The Box Ghost stared at Danny in confusion.

"Ummm... Why aren't you screaming in fear and running away from me?" The Box Ghost asked.

Danny tried to catch his breath before giving a few more chuckles.

"Dude, do you have any idea how stupid you sound?" Danny asked between laughs. "You're definitely not a very good villain."

The Box Ghost groaned, obviously getting mad. Without a single word, he let his hand glow a bit. Some of the already glowing boxes glowed brighter before being hurdled straight at Danny. The boxes bombarded the hybrid, effectively getting him to stop laughing. Danny phased out of the pile of boxes, looking a bit disoriented.

"Before you say good bye to this world," The Box Ghost began, "I must know who I am about to destroy! So ghost child, tell me your name!"

Danny thought; he couldn't tell the ghost his real name. If this ghost was as talkative as he was hammy, things would escalate very fast. He didn't need the population around him in Amity Park, heck even the whole world, to know that he now had ghost powers. His parents and friends were one thing, but people who he never met and the people at school were another thing entirely. They would probably start judging him by his powers and make him go from geek to freak in social terms.

He could create an alias to prevent those issues...

"It's... Uhhh..." Danny began, making the Box Ghost more and more anxious with anticipation, "It's... Phantom... Danny Phantom!"

Or make it completely obvious with a slight tweak to his actual name... He silently prayed that if this ghost was chatty, that people would not connect the dots.

' _I am such a doofus..._ ' Danny thought, mentally slapping himself, ' _But at least I didn't choose something like Invisobill... That would be a nightmare..._ '

"Now that I know your name, I can now say this!" the Box Ghost said. "Farewell, Danny Phantom!"

The Box Ghost summoned a horde of boxes behind him. With a dorky laugh, he fired the boxes at Danny. Danny, with his arms raised in a defensive position, quickly turned intangible and shut his eyes instinctively as the boxes passed through him. When he opened his eyes, he realized that he was, in fact, intangible and no defense was really necessary.

' _Oh right..._ ' Danny thought, slightly embarrassed.

"You must be a new ghost," the Box Ghost stated and threw another box at Danny. "That gives me all that I need to package you to your doom!"

' _That pun really sucked..._ ' Danny thought as he let the box pass through him.

What Danny didn't count on was getting hit from behind by another box. He held his head where the box smacked him. This ghost was officially very annoying and very pathetic by Danny's standards.

Without wasting a second, Danny began to chase the annoying ghost. Once he got into range, he kicked the Box Ghost across the room. Unfortunately, being annoying and pathetic as all heck did not equal being easy to keep down. The Box Ghost was beyond persistent in trying to beat up Danny. He came close to landing a few nasty blows, but Danny's small bit of luck kept them from striking him. He also had to add "Keep the Box Ghost away from boxes that contain panties, stockings, and garterbelts" to his mental sticky notes. As much Danny would want to mess around with such clothing items, he did not have time to do that.

With a full powered right hook into the pesky ghost's gut, Danny sent the Box Ghost flying... Literally. He did want to use a pun there, but it was way too cheesy for the moment. And the cheesiness was not caused by yours truly this time.

The Box Ghost sailed across the room. His eyes darted around the room.

"Uh... Beware, for I will be back!" the Box Ghost proclaimed and darted out of the spacious room via intangibility.

"Oh no you don't!" Danny called out in annoyance.

Danny did not want to chase the lousy excuse of a ghost, but now he had no choice. He turned intangible and dove through the wall, not letting the Box Ghost have a five second head start. This caught the annoying villain wannabe off guard effectively, giving Danny the opening he needed to knock him into the ground. The second the Box Ghost began to struggle, Danny began to put him into a half nelson. The Box Ghost tried and tried get out of Danny's grip, but kept on failing. Danny rolled his eyes and pointed the thermos at the Box Ghost and sucked him up. The annoying menace protested as he tried to resist the thermos's pull, but ultimately failed in the end.

"That was by far the most annoying ghost I have ever met," Danny said as he frowned at the thermos.

Danny took a look at his phone's clock. It was 7:50. He had spent at least an hour and a half chasing the idiot. Danny's eyes widened in shock. He had promised to go to the movies with his friends at around 8:00. Normally they wouldn't go so early, but since it was the only time they were airing a Dead Teacher movie marathon that day.

"Oh crud!" Danny shouted. "I'm gonna be late!"

In a panicky haste, Danny flew as fast as he could out of the abandoned warehouse, unaware that someone was watching him from the shadows.

* * *

Sam and Tucker waited at the entrance to the room where the Dead Teacher movies were being marathoned. Tucker sat on the left side, playing a version of Pong on his PDA. Sam was on the right side, leaning against the wall with a disinterested scowl. Her eyes wondered to her wrist watch. There was only about ten minutes left until the previews for the new horror movies began, thirty until the actual movie marathon began.

"Danny better have not over slept again!" Sam exasperated. "If he did, I'm going to personally go over to his house and drag his lazy butt out of bed!"

"Maybe he ran into a ghost," Tucker suggested. "With the portal functioning, ghosts have been coming here and causing some trouble for our group."

"True," Sam said, calming down slightly with that possibility planted in her mind. "I really hope his parents find away to keep that portal shut or something."

"In the mean time," Tucker said, "Wanna grab some snacks at the concessions while we wait? I had to skip breakfast just so I could make it here."

Sam gave Tucker a look. It couldn't be more obvious that Tucker _did_ over sleep. She sighed as she massaged her head.

"Nah," Sam said, "I'll pass."

"Suit yourself," Tucker said as he ran off. "They got cheesy nachos with bacon bits!"

"Another reason why I don't want to go get snacks," Sam muttered to herself in disgust.

Sam began to stare off into her dark version of La La Land, unaware something was lurking around her. She didn't even notice what was lurking due to it being invisible. An out of nowhere tap to her back startled her, causing her to jump from her leaning position. She turned around to see Danny, in his ghost form with his head poking through the wall, with a mischievous smirk and an index finger extended.

"Danny!" Sam scolded. "Where the heck were you!? The previews are going to start in five minutes!"

"Sorry," Danny apologized, "A new face decided to show up and steal a bunch of boxes, but I managed to send him packing."

Danny couldn't help but snicker at what he said as Sam just gave a deadpan stare. She didn't get the joke. Period.

"You see what I did there? He called himself the Box Ghost." Danny began explaining. "He was stealing all the boxes in Amity Park and I sent him packing."

Sam frowned, very unimpressed with Danny's joke. If looks could slap, then her current facial expression just did it twice.

"That is the lamest joke I have ever heard." Sam said. "Next time, don't explain the joke."

Danny gave a mock pouty face as he stepped out of the wall and transformed back into his human form. Sam was still not very impressed, but she was, however, relieved that it was a ghost that was causing trouble instead of Danny sleeping in like Tucker did. But what caused her some confusion why it was a ghost that was stealing boxes. A ghost like that didn't seem too hard to beat at all. In fact, she thought that even Paulina could beat a ghost with a box fetish. She would ask for details later, but she had other matters to tend to. Tucker had returned with a popcorn bin, a large soda, and a large container of nachos with cheese and bacon bits.

With the whole trio there, they entered the theater room and took a seat so they could begin watching the previews while they waited for their movie marathon. In the background, a shadowed, glowing figure kept watching Danny (he didn't notice that his ghost sense went off due to the numerous distractions) as he and his friends laughed at one of the most ridiculous previews on the line up. The figure smirked.

"Keep laughing, whelp," the figure said, "This will be the last time you do in this world."

* * *

The marathon ended at least four hours later. The trio emerged from the theater room, looking a bit disheveled and dirty from the horror induced chaos that erupted during the movies. Two of the three were also laughing from what went on.

"Did you guys get to count how many people fainted?" Tucker asked. "I have never seen so many go out like that! And it was during the SECOND Dead Teacher Movie! The LAMEST one!"

Danny tried to calm down enough to speak, but ended up failing. Sam, with a scowl on her face, tried to remove the popcorn kernels and puffs from her hair and tank top.

"Don't forget how many people don't know what a trash can is," Sam muttered and spotted a set of hotdog crumbs on her shoulder. "Eww!"

Sam flicked the hotdog bits off her shoulder via her sleeve so that she didn't have to touch the disgusting pieces of meat that invaded her personal space.

"I am sure it was an accident, Sam," Danny said, finally dousing his rampant chuckling. "I mean, some guy did accidentally did a spit take on the back of my head."

"I am not so sure that was a spit take, dude..." Tucker trailed off, his amused smirk becoming tainted with disgust at that memory. "It didn't smell like cola, juice, or soda. Plus there were chunks of something in it."

Danny froze when he heard that and cringed with major disgust. Now he knew why he smelled so badly. In fact, it made him want to puke even more now realizing what was on his back.

"I will be right back..." Danny said with discomfort.

Danny ran into the nearby men's room. Sam and Tucker faced each other just as soon as Danny disappeared into the bathroom.

"Still think being covered in meat crumbs is worse?" Tucker asked with a smirk.

"Tucker, I'd rather be in the middle of a ghost attack instead of being covered in either of those things," Sam said with irritation.

* * *

Danny locked himself in a bathroom stall. When he was certain nobody else was in the restroom area, he became intangible over the toilet, letting the nasty stuff that his clothes and hair had collected in the theater room. After he was certain everything that didn't belong was gone, he looked away and flushed the toilet. He did not want to confirm what he was covered in, period.

Just when he finished unlocking the stall door, he finally noticed his ghost sense. He tensed. This was definitely not a good place for a fight to break out. The biggest reason was because there were too many people in the building and not much room. Another reason was that Danny just didn't want to deal with another ghost that was just as annoying as the Box Ghost.

Danny pressed his back against the stall door, effectively keeping it shut. A second before Danny could transform, a large, glowing net pinned him to the stall door. It was also, unfortunately, very painful. Not only was the net giving him rope burn, it was sending a small shocks throughout his body. The shocks weren't too bad, they were pretty much on the same level as static shocks that you got from woolen clothes that didn't get put in the dryer with a dryer sheet.

A robotic ghost then became visible, hoovering over Danny. He looked really pleased with the fact that the hybrid was "helplessly" pinned to the stall door. The robot ghost had a functioning face (which confused Danny for some reason), a green, flaming mohawk, a black tank top with a skull on it, black leggings (' _Why would a robot need clothes?_ ' Danny thought), spiked combat boots, and a black, spiked choker.

"Who are you," Danny asked, wincing at the constant zapping, "And what do you want with me, metal head?"

"The name's Skulker," The robotic ghost said with a large, feral grin, "The Ghost Zone's Greatest Hunter! And I what I want is you."

"Dude, that sounds very wrong!" Danny said, cringing at the last part. "I am not a Robophile!"

"Not like that, you dirty minded whelp!" Skulker said in annoyance and slapped Danny across the face, "I am a collector of rare and unique creatures. What I want with you is not what your sewer brain thinks. What I want is to skin you, rest your pelt near my fireplace. Maybe even use whatever is left of you for making new weapons for my arsenal."

If Danny wasn't disgusted in the first place, he was now feeling massive revoltion. In fact, he threw up a bit in his mouth.

"Aw gross!" Danny cried out. "That is just sick! I am just a kid!"

"Not just any kid," Skulker said, not buying the half ghost's bluff, "You are the ghost kid. Rumors spread quickly in the Ghost Zone. I personally wanted to see if they are true, and now I can have you."

' _Great, I should have been more careful where transforming!_ ' Danny thought. ' _If I was, then I wouldn't have to meet this robotic creep!_ '

Hoping the net didn't loop affect any of his powers, Danny went intangible and pushed himself backwards. To his delight, he fell through the door just like he had hoped. Once free, he didn't spare a single second and transformed instantly, not even shouting out his battle cry. The second after Danny was done transforming, Skulker had a laser aimed where his heart was located. This freaked the hybrid out a tiny bit, causing him to bolt from where he was standing and out of the men's room.

"Of all the days to forget the equipment," Danny muttered to himself as he looked behind himself. "It just had to be the day that some psycho thought it was a good idea to try to kill me!"

Danny dodged the incoming lasers, causing walls and some objects to get blasted. Every object that was hit was smothered in soot or was turned into soot. Thankfully, nobody got hit, that would have been one nasty trip to the hospital or something just as bad.

"Keep on dodging, ghost child!" Skulker called out. "It's making the hunt very interesting and exciting!"

"Dude," Danny called out, "I am sure what you are doing is illegal!"

"I don't care about the rules of this ridiculous human world!" Skulker shouted and fired a tiny rocket. "Skulker gets what he wants no matter what!"

The rocket homed in on Danny, causing his eyes to go wide as if he were a deer about to be run over. He gulped and tried to get the rocket off his trail, but the stupid thing was unable to fall for any misdirection that he threw at it. The rocket eventually caught up to him and slammed into his side, exploding. Danny cried out in pain as the explosion sent him flying into the ground, battered and bruised. Black and blue. Danny's consciousness teetered as he tried to stay awake. Danny won the fight against unconsciousness for now, but he was too weak to keep his ghost form. This in turn caused him to transform back into a human. Skulker threw an ectoplasmic gag on Danny's mouth, keeping him from speaking and/or shouting.

"Leave him alone!"

Danny's eyes wondered to the direction the two distinct voices came from. He saw it was Sam and Tucker holding the Ecto-pistols. He was certain he had gotten those back, but in a way, he was thankful he accidentally left them in his best friends' hands. But now, he didn't want them to fight a ghost with a thing for dangerous weapons that could potentially maim someone.

"And lose a chance at capturing my prey?" Skulker asked. "Not a chance!"

Danny wanted to tell them to run, but he was gagged and was very shaky with his movements due to the pain that ran through out his body.

Sam fired her pistol next to Skulker's metal head. It was too close for comfort as it nearly grazed the polished metal.

"Next time you won't be so lucky!" Sam shouted, "Release our friend now!"

"Never!" Skulker said. "And since you dare to approach me in such manner, I might as well make you two into a footstool and a tether ball!"

"Man, that is just gross!" Tucker grimaced.

"Without a doubt," Sam said, looking a bit green in the face.

Skulker advanced at the two humans, who were trying to get a good aim on the flying hunk of metal. Danny saw this and was highly alarmed, causing adrenaline to race through his system. That gave him the boost he needed to get moving again. With every ounce of determination, Danny quickly got up and ran towards Skulker. In one leap, Danny crashed his body into Skulker's screwing up Skulker's flight path. This gave the opening that Sam and Tucker needed for open firing. They shot at Skulker as Danny transformed and kept the robotic ghost pinned down. One of the ectoplasmic lasers that Tucker fired hit Skulker at the welding that connected the head to the torso, causing the head to pop off.

Danny slumped as the gag disappeared and went back into human form. Skulker's torso laid limp on the ground, but the head however, was rattling around like crazy. Two little stubby green feet were poking out of it. Danny got up and crawled over to the metal head and grasped the green legs. Whatever was in literally in Skulker's head, it obviously didn't want to come out. With a forceful tug, Danny managed to pull out a frog-esque green ghost that was the size of a smurf. Danny blinked at it.

"Put me down!" the green thing screamed in a high pitched voice. "I'm Skulker! The greatest hunter! You better listen to me!"

Tucker snickered.

"So the thing that was about to kill you was a booger?" Tucker laughed. "Man, that is so embarrassing!"

"No wonder why he was so snotty earlier!" Danny said with a few chuckles.

"Good one, Danny!" Tucker said, laughing some more.

"A BOOGER?!" Skulker screamed, highly insulted. "WHY YOU LITTLE-!"

Sam rolled her eyes as Danny gagged Skulker with his finger.

"Only you two can joke around after a life threatening situation," Sam muttered. "Hey, you might want to, you know, suck him into the thermos right now."

Danny looked around like he was guilty of something. Sam could easily read what was going through Danny's head at that second.

"You forgot it, didn't you?" Sam asked with half closed eyes.

"Yeah," Danny chuckled nervously, thinking back to when he left it on a table in the lab after getting rid of the Box Ghost, "This is a new duty after all! Can't expect me to remember these things!"

"Please try harder," Sam pleaded, "We can't make being forgetful a habit. Besides, we just can't carry a ghost in between our fingers. Someone will start asking questions."

Danny pondered for a second. His eyes lit up as a devious smirk grew on his face.

"Danny," Tucker asked, "You okay? I don't like the look you're giving Skulker the Ghost Zone's Biggest Booger!"

* * *

A toilet flushed, followed by high pitched screams. Skulker swirled around and around in the toilet bowl as he was flushed down the loo. Danny grinned at his handy work. Tucker had an amused smirk while Sam, gave a deadpan look at the two boys.

"You guys do realize this only solves a part of the problem?" Sam asked.

"What do you mean?" Danny asked. "I practically flushed it down the toilet!"

"What I mean is, we still have to deal with his suit!" Sam said and held up the robotic suit Skulker had worn.

"Can I keep it?" Tucker asked eagerly. "Pretty please!"

"I am pretty sure that is a bad idea considering who uses it," Sam said.

"Come on, Sam!" Tucker pouted before switching to pride. "I am pretty sure I can get information from that suit that will make beating him easier next time!"

"Go ahead, take it with you," Sam said. "I am not saving your rear end if it attacks you."

"Don't be so heartless," Danny said. "Skulker isn't in there so nothing bad can possibly happen with that suit while it's in Tuck's care."

Tucker cheered and hooked up his PDA to the suit. As soon as the information downloading began, Tucker got zapped for a brief second.

"Well, except for that..." Danny said.

With those words said, Sam and Danny chuckled as Tucker pouted on the floor of the bathroom. His PDA was off to the side with the downloading process at thirty percent.


	2. Bitter Reunions

**Binas** : Here is chapter two my fellow friends and random strangers! I hope you enjoy this chapter and what I have in store. Man, I am getting closer and closer to my super-secret chapter with every post! Trust me, you all will find it a massive shell shocker! And by that, a TUE level shell shocker! Not spoiling anything and it saddens me because I love spoilers! (||;-;)ノ✿

Sorry this took so long. Digitalized Adventure had so much potential in it and I recently tried upgrading to Windows 10. The upgrading didn't go so well because my Firefox browser kept saying that _Google_ and a few other sites were untrusted and Chrome had permanent Restricted Mode activated despite me never turning it on. Thankfully that got resolved in the downgrade. I also re-upgraded recently to Windows 10, and so far, no major bugs have appeared. Then there was school starting, me learning about some CDC scandals that have happened recently involving vaccines, and a protein called Nagalase (it's produced by CANCER CELLS and VIRUSES to prevent GcMAF being formed to active Macrophages) being in vaccines (though further thinking on this has led me to think since vaccines are made of viruses, it is rather logically to find Nagalase in vaccines, but the fact they hid that makes me a bit annoyed), and the probability of a bullying incident starting (if so, it was the most inappropriate, crudest, perverted way to do so from what I know from experience). So yeah, a lot on my plate. So much for Senior Year being the year of mature people. It's turning into a year of pigs!

As for swearing, you may catching me putting some in now. Mainly because my mental age is starting to mature slightly (I always thought of myself of having mental age of eight years old). And the other factor is because, well, I am feeling angrier than normal. I am not going to take it out on you guys. Besides, I am not the explosive type (I am more of the _implosive_ type). I only realized I was getting angrier was when I started swearing in my dreams (not sleep talking, but me actually calling people bad words in a sorta lucid dream (only sorta cause I knew it was a dream but I wasn't in control)).

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.

* * *

Punches and boxes were exchanged in the early night sky. Danny was once more fighting the Box Ghost. Just to think, the young Halfa (which the Box Ghost blurted out in one of their previous fights before Danny tricked him into the thermos via giving an explanation of the term) once thought this lame excuse of a ghost was annoying. He now thought the Box Ghost was a big pain in the rear. He sucked up of Danny's time for homework, classwork, fun time, sleeping, eating, and more. He was so close to thinking of trapping the moronic ghost in the thermos and burying said thermos fifty feet underground. Also during this very badly timed battle (he wanted to go to bed early for once), Danny discovered a new power, Ghost Rays. He learned about it when the Box Ghost threw a box full of pepper and body smashed into him. It made him a bit happy that he now had a way of ranged fighting without using the spare gun he carried (it was intended for Sam and Tucker if one of theirs broke) to use.

"I WILL BE BACK!" the Box Ghost screamed as he was once more sucked into the thermos.

Danny held the thermos, looking very bored. Five minutes. It took five minutes to get that annoying, lame excuse of a ghost into the thermos. Only four minutes and thirty seconds was spent chasing him. The remaining thirty seconds was used just to aim and fire at the pest. And every moment in that small time frame was a relentless drag.

"For the hundredth time this week," Danny muttered, hating his luck. "Doesn't he have anything better to do than bother me?"

"NO, I DO NOT!" the Box Ghost screamed from the non-soundproof thermos. "BEWARE!"

"Will ya, shut up?!" Danny yelled and banged the bottom of the thermos on one of the brick walls that made up Fenton Works' exterior.

A few feet from where Danny was floating, a window opened. It was his mom, and she was giving a look at her son as he banged the thermos. She cleared her throat, catching her son's attention.

"What are you doing, Danny?" Maddie asked.

"Uh..." Danny trailed off, "BEWARE!"

Danny quickly turned invisible, trying to avoid being questioned. However, once more, his luck was against him. His mother had turned on the heat sensors that she had recently installed into her goggles. She frowned.

"Danny," Maddie deadpanned, "I know you're still there. I can still see you in the infrared. Now tell me what is going on and why you were banging the thermos against the house."

"It's just the Box Ghost again," Danny said, coming back into the visible spectrum. "He escaped for the hundredth time! Again! Literally! I swear, he's trying use annoyance to kill me!"

"Honey, no one can die directly from being annoyed," Maddie said. "But more importantly, just please be more careful with our inventions. Some of them are still unstable and can be disastrous if they get damaged. Anyways, it's time to come inside; we have something important to talk about."

Turning intangible, Danny dove through the brick outer wall of the house and into the living room. Once in the room, he transformed back into his human form, startling his dad from his cross-stitching. Jack's hand dove for one of his pockets as he turned around just to see his son standing there.

"Oh," Jack said with smile as he relaxed, "It's just you, Danny-boy. You startled me there for a second there."

"Sorry, dad," Danny said sheepishly. "Do you have any idea what mom wants to talk about?"

Jack only just smiled as he put down his cross-stitching, not intending to tell his son anytime soon. Danny got the nonverbal cue and sat down on the couch. A few moments later, Maddie and Jazz came down the stairs. Jazz was looking a tiny bit more skittish than normal, but only Danny noticed. The young hybrid raised an eyebrow at his sister's nervousness, unsure what to think of it. He was going to ponder over it, but his parents caught his attention with their sudden news.

"Okay, you all must be wondering what is so important," Jack began. "Well I am going to tell you right now! Yesterday, in the mail, we got an invitation to a college reunion!"

Danny rolled his eyes. He obviously didn't want to go to a party full of old fossils, nor did he want to watch them break their backs just trying to do a simple _line dance_. Jazz also, didn't exactly want to go for a very similar reason. The added reason for her was that she didn't want to be there while her parents acted embarrassing.

"Aw c'mon, kids!" Jack pouted. "I haven't even gotten to the best part and you are already looking like dead flies!"

"Then please just say it!" Danny pleaded.

"The best part is that my old college friend, Vladdie, has invited us!" Jack said happily. "He has finally cooled down enough to start connecting with his old pals!"

Jazz furrowed her eyebrows at that statement.

"What do you mean exactly by that?" Jazz asked.

"You see, back in college, Maddie, Vlad, and I were great pals. We did many things together. We went to parties, hang outs, stores (where they either shopped or pulled off the classic "top # things to do at store x"), study sessions, everything you could ever think of together. Well, that was until fate blasted Vlad in the face," Jack explained, feeling a bit bad for what had happened. "He wound up being put in the hospital for a while with a nasty case of Ecto-Acne that came from a failed prototype of the ghost portal. He told me after that day that he never wanted to see me again. However, this invite that I hold before us all maybe a sign that he finally forgives me! And that is all I wanted from him since."

' _Geez,_ ' Danny thought, ' _What is this? A soap opera? And no, I am not being heart-less!_ '

"Well, now that back story time is over," Jack said, "Go pack your bags, we are going to Wisconsin!"

Danny and Jazz sighed. This was going to be a long, very long trip. One that both didn't exactly want to be a part of, especially when it meant being trapped inside the smelly, armored RV. Either way, Danny had a bad feeling that he couldn't shake off. It felt very similar to the occasional pit feeling he sometimes has when his ghost sense goes off.

' _I have a feeling something bad,_ ' Danny thought, ' _Very bad is going to happen._ '

* * *

The two day trip to Wisconsin was, thankfully, uneventful for the Fenton family. All that Danny had to put up with was trying to pass time without being bored, a few car wreaks that his father didn't cause, several bathroom breaks, some stops for a quick meal, and listening to some really bad singing. If there was one thing that Fentons were not good at, it was singing. Jazz sounded like a dying cat, Jack had a decent voice, but it wasn't rock star quality, Maddie was a bit flat, and Danny did not want to try period. He didn't need any unneeded attention nor did he want his parents to surprise him with a hidden camera and post videos of him singing all over the internet. In fact, he never tried singing period in his life just because of that fact, even when he was younger.

Then there were a couple of confusing things, despite having an armored RV that was loaded with weapons, his parents still found it necessary to carry a few pistols with them. Danny also had no reason why his mom brought the Fenton Finder along. He was sure that no ghosts would interrupt their visit and there was no way Danny would be able to leave the place anyways.

However, Maddie had a reason to bring along the Fenton Finder and it was not to keep an eye on Danny (though it unintentionally gave her that bonus now that it could find hybrids at the touch of a button). The reunion brought the proto-portal accident to the forefront of her mind and sparked a theory that needed answering. She never got all the answers she wanted when Vlad stopped talking to them and she needed to know what long term effects the accident had on him. From what Danny told her about his own accident, it was likely that Vlad was trying to hide for similar reasons. Then there was the psychological effects from withdrawing from friends could have. She had to know and her inner curiosity was killing her from within.

By the early morning hours, the Fentons could see an elegantly shaped mansion modeled after castle in the distance. Jazz's eyes widened as her jaw dropped.

"No way," Jazz said in amazement. "It can't be..."

"It is," Jack said to his daughter, "We are finally here!"

Danny was impressed by the size of the castle-esque mansion but the coloring made him cringe. It was a beige building covered in a hideous combination of gold and green accents with red, cone shaped roofs. Jazz could sympathize on that part, but other than that, she was amazed at the fact that she now knew which Vlad they were talking about a few days ago. The only reason why she now knew was because this was the same mansion featured in one of the magazine subscriptions the Fentons had. Back then, she only read it because she needed something to read that wasn't ghost related (something that was hard to avoid with a family like hers) and the latest Genius Magazine hadn't arrived yet.

"Is it just me, or does this Vlad guy suck at telling his painters what to do?" Danny asked dryly with his eyes half open.

"Danny be nice," Maddie said, "Sure, Vlad always had questionable tastes, but that doesn't mean you have to be so rude about it."

"Vladdie just has his own style, that's all," Jack defended. "Nothing wrong with that!"

Jack parked the RV in front of the mansion. Everyone got out of the RV and a tall man dressed in a black business suit with white hair that was pulled back into a thin ponytail. The man's dark blue eyes looked at the arrivals, scanning them while being undetected. The look on Jack's face sold who the guy was right on the spot.

"Jack," Vlad said with a very subtle hint of disgust before switching to less subtle lust, "Maddie. It has been a very long time. Around twenty years if I'm correct."

"It sure has, Vlad," Jack said and wrapped an arm around Vlad's shoulders. "I am so glad you have finally forgiven me, and we are all happy that you wanted to have us here."

Vlad shifted uncomfortably under Jack's massive arm; trying to restrain a glare and only having a small, unnoticeable frown escape. Once he got out from under it, he readjusted his suit's coat.

"Well, yes," Vlad said and stepped aside. "I am sure your trip here was exhausting. So why don't you come inside and spend the night? You are a day early after all."

After some small hesitation on Jack's part, wanting to show every feature that he put into the RV specified for camping, Vlad managed to coax (including promises of ghosts roaming the halls) Jack enough to get him to agree on the family coming in for the night.

The inside of the mansion looked great architectural wise, but color wise, it was just as messy and hideous as he outside. The awkwardly placed greens and golds once more made the Fenton kids cringe in disgust. When Danny spotted the green and gold jerseys and several football related nick-knacks, he had a solid conclusion of what Vlad was...

"Dude, you are one extreme Packers fanatic..." Danny said shaking his head, with eyes open wide, when he saw a rather embarrassing thing: a football magazine stash.

"Fanatic is a bit of a harsh word, don't you think?" Vlad asked, nearly startling Danny with his sudden appearance behind him.

"Uhhhh..." Danny said, not exactly sure what to say at all. "No. Maybe? I have no idea."

During that little encounter, and some antics from Jack that made Vlad's calm demeanor crack a bit, Maddie decided to check the Fenton Ghost Tracker. When she turned it on and set it to the Hybrid setting she saw the cobalt dot that represented her son blinking in and out on the screen. Next to the cobalt dot on the screen was another cobalt dot. She looked up and saw that the second dot was right were Vlad was, making Maddie gasp internally. She was right, which was no surprise actually, but a part of her was hoping she was wrong because of all the implications that happened to make him that way.

Maddie debated if she should tell Jack now, or wait until night time to tell him. She knew she would need to tell Danny as soon as possible. Then there was the nagging feeling that should needed to let Vlad know that she knew as of this moment. And Jazz also had the right to know, but with the way she is with ghost related things made that one also hard to decide. The eternal battle of opening her mouth or keeping it shut raged on, causing her to ignore the outside world.

"Mom!" Jazz shouted, snapping Maddie out of her daze. "We are going to go choose our rooms now. Aren't you coming?"

"Oh," Maddie said, "I'm coming."

Jazz gave a funny look a Maddie.

"Is something wrong mom?" Jazz asked.

"I'm just thinking, that's all," Maddie said as she place a hand on her daughter's shoulder. "No need to worry."

"Okay," Jazz said, not buying it, but walked off none of the less.

* * *

Later that night in the room Jack and Maddie picked out, Maddie was trying to think of a way to tell Jack and her kids what she learned, but nothing came to mind. She tossed and turned in the expensive, fancy, comfortable bed. All of the support and softness the bed gave couldn't sooth Maddie's nerves at all. Jack, who just came into the room with his pink and white striped nightie and nightcap, noticed this and gave a concern look.

"Mads, you okay?" Jack asked as he sat on the bed. "You don't look to good."

"I'm fine," Maddie said with a tired smile. "I am thinking, that's all."

"What are you thinking about, babes?" Jack asked like a little kid as he bounced a bit excitedly on the bed. "A new invention idea? A new cookie recipe? Tell me! I know I can help!"

Maddie giggled a bit. Jack's kindness and outgoing nature was one of the greatest things she had found attractive in the big, loveable goof ball.

"It's not a new invention or recipe, but I promise, I will make a cookie recipe just for you when we get home," Maddie said, poking Jack's nose.

"Then what are you thinking about?" Jack asked, practically begging Maddie to tell him.

"Do you remember the proto-portal and Vlad's accident with it?" Maddie asked.

"Of course I do. I know it like the back of my hand," Jack said, looking confused. "I did share the story with the kids after all. But why does that have you thinking?"

"It's just that," Maddie said, "What if Vlad's accident had similar side effects to Danny's, ignoring the Ecto-Acne?"

Jack processed the question as carefully as he could with all of the genius level craziness that went on in his head. He never actually thought of that. To him, that would be actually cool in some weird way. Since Vlad seemed to have forgiven him, they could possibly do a bunch of crazy adventures that he would never drag Danny on until he turned at least twenty, give or take a few years. It would be just like the good old days that they had in college, but only twenty percent cooler and probably much more fun with all he pranks they could pull. His face beamed with happiness. That visible reaction wasn't one that Maddie was expecting.

"Jack, what are you thinking?" Maddie asked, not really sure if she wanted to know.

"If that's the case, then I say, we waltz straight up to Vladdie," Jack said, acting out the steps with his fingers, "Tell him we know, and celebrate with fudge and old hijinks we didn't get to do in college."

Maddie shook her head. That wasn't the smartest thing to do. Vlad was a friend and that wouldn't be the most polite thing to do. Then again, if by some luck and good timing, they would have a small chance of having Vlad help out with Danny and his slightly out of whack powers. While he had come a long way within the month and a half time frame, she was still nervous. What if something went wrong and the had no idea of how to fix it? Then they would need Vlad's help if he was truly part ghost like Danny was.

"Okay, okay," Maddie said with a yawn. "But let me do the talking, okay? We don't want to accidentally upset him."

"Awwww!" Jack pouted.

Jack climbed into bed, making it bounce a bit. The couple began to go to sleep from there. Maddie felt a lot more relaxed now that she had gotten that off her chest.

* * *

A few hours into the night in the guest room Danny took, Danny was sleeping but it wasn't peaceful at all. He was restless as he shifted a bit in his sleep. Even in his slumber, something just didn't feel right. It was as if someone was watching him and he wasn't even aware of them being there, period. It was flat out creepy, and he was _part ghost_. He shouldn't be creeped out by something like that, but he was.

As the sleeping Danny finally found some rest in his sleep, he was woken up by his ghost sense. Danny groaned as he cracked his eyes open a bit. He was tired and needed his sleep, especially since being an adolescent and the fact that his powers were still a bit taxing in the energy department. Despite that, Danny transformed anyways underneath the blankets. After he was done, he poked his head up through the blanket to see what decided to bother him now.

Flying past the door were a group of three green vultures with fezzes on their heads. Each one of them wore sunglasses, which were unneeded during the night, much less indoors. What really caught Danny's attention about the birds was the fact they were trying to drag Jack though the hallway. That was both bad and just plain rude.

"This old guy is heavy!" the first vulture cried out.

"Just keep pulling," the second one said, "We might get him to the boss by the afternoon tomorrow if we are lucky!"

"Shut up!" the third one squawked. "We don't want unwanted attention or for the bozo to wake up!"

Danny quickly flew behind the vulture and tapped the first one. The first vulture turned around and squawked in surprise. This caused a repeat of the exact same reaction from the other two.

"Don't do that to us, kid!" the first vulture cried. "If you want to help us drag our victim to the boss, then just ask!"

"He's not a victim, he's a bozo!" the third vulture corrected.

"The boss specifically said he was a bumbling, fat idiot!" the second vulture screeched.

"No!" the first one yelled. "Both of your ears lie! I heard the boss call him a victim!"

"You have the worst hearing out of the three of us!" the third one screamed.

Danny blinked as the three vultures began to fight each other. It was pretty much a "what the heck" moment for him. Shaking off the strangeness of the moment, Danny used this moment to grab his dad, turn the both of them intangible, and fly away with him. All of that was done without the vultures noticing. After Danny put his dad back into the bed safely, he flew out of the room and back to the bickering avians, who were now pecking each other on the head.

"Hey, three stooges!" Danny called out. "You should pay more attention!"

The vultures perked up and looked at the floor and screamed in panic. The second vulture glared at its companions.

"YOU IDIOTS!" the second vulture shrieked. "ONE OF YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN WATCHING THE IDIOT WHILE I BICKERED WITH THE OTHER!"

"YOU ARE THE IDIOT FOR THINKING THAT WOULD MAKE A DIFFERENCE!" the first vulture screamed back.

"YOU BOTH ARE STUPID!" the third one shouted. "WE SHOULD HAVE AGREED THAT HE WAS A BOZO AND CONTINUED OUR MISSION!"

That was when all heck broke out. The ghostly avians began beating each other up rather brutally. Danny cringed as he saw one of them try to rip one of the other's foot off. This was by far one of the weirdest fights he had ever participated in. And all he did was tell them to pay attention! Getting a bit tired of hearing the arguing, Danny decided to do target practice on them. If he was going to be kept up by a bunch of vultures bickering, he might as well entertain himself.

Danny pointed a finger in an "innocent" manner and shot a ghost ray at one of the vulture's rear end. The vulture he hit screamed in pain as it held its butt and began to dance around a like a total moron. Danny couldn't help, but snicker at how stupid the vulture looked. He then shot another in the foot, which led to that one hoping on one foot as it held the injured one. As for the final one, he grabbed it by the tail, lift it off the ground, and smirked.

"Hey, you two!" Danny called out.

That got the other two vultures to stop doing their embarrassing "dances" and turn around. They gasped when they saw their brother in Danny's possession.

"Polly want a bird?" Danny asked before throwing the bird and kicking it in the back. "Well let me give you one!"

The vulture went sailing through the air, crashing into its brethren. They turned intangible as they flew through a wall that was not an interior one. Danny dusted his hands off, feeling his exhaustion set in. It was really annoying that he had just wasted five minutes of sleeping time on those bird brains.

Danny began to fly to the room that he had chosen to sleep in when he saw a shadow go by. The young hybrid frowned and continued on to bed, thinking that he was just seeing things because he was tired. That was when the shadow began following him. Danny stopped in his tracks and glared at the shadow.

"Okay, what is this?" Danny asked as he turned around with his eyes closed in exasperation. "A cheesy horror film remake? Whoever is pretending to be Freddy Krueger, you better quit it! Some of us want to go back to sleep!"

"So you are that little goody-goody: Danny Phantom?" a creepy, yet calm voice asked.

' _Gossip sure does travel fast by Box Ghost,_ ' Danny thought. ' _Note to self: Hope that the idiot never finds out I am only half ghost._ '

Danny turned around and saw a pair of menacing eyes that had every single inch of them glowing an opaque, blood red, not just the iris. The ghost boy floated tiny bit closer to get a better look at the new person in the area. However, Danny was prevented from getting a closer look. The figure instantly pushed the young half ghost away, making him yelp. Once Danny was out of the figure's path, the figure came out of the shadows.

The now revealed figure made Danny feel a tiny bit nervous. The figure was an adult male by human physiologic shape, but was clearly a ghost. What gave that away was not just the obvious glowing, but also the fact the ghost had blue skin, jet black hair styles as devilish horns, vampire fangs, and a white business suit with red accents. Despite the nervousness that lingered in his subconscious mind, Danny still found one thing that could easily summarize the ghost before him: a ridiculous Dracula knock off.

"Who are you?" Danny asked before cracking a slight nervous look. "A vampire wannabe with Cyanosis?"

That smart aleck comment got Danny nasty punch into the gut. Danny went flying back a bit, clenching where the ghost had socked him.

"Be glad I didn't say that sparkly vampires were better than you..." Danny muttered under his breath.

"You have a wit," the ghost said sarcastically. "How charming. We will have to fix that."

"You didn't answer my question!" Danny said a bit too loudly, losing some patience with the smug looking ghost in front of him. "And why was Tweedle Dee, Tweedle Dumb, and Tweedle Doofus dragging m- That guy away?"

The ghost gave a creepy smirk that sent shivers down Danny's spine. He gestured his hand towards a pair of large oak doors with fancy, decorative engravings.

"Follow me in here," the ghost said chillingly. "I will answer those oh so troublesome questions then."

With that, the ghost turned intangible and melted through the door. Danny, not having a very good feeling about this at all, followed with his guard up. From the way the guy answered his second question, he knew about the reason behind it. That was not including how uncomfortable the ghost intentionally made it sound.

Past the door was an expansive library. Book among books filled the shelves and cases. Most were related to either football, dating tips (humorously enough), and to Danny's surprise, a couple of sections of glowing books. The creepy atmosphere not only made Danny's skin crawl, but perked his still present childish curiosity a bit.

After reaching the center of the library, the ghost turned around to face the young hybrid. From the look on his face, things were just about to get ugly.

"To answer your first question, I am not a vampire want to be," the ghost said in a low, high and mighty tone. "My name is Plasmius. I am, in fact, the most powerful ghost you will ever meet, you little cheeky brat."

Danny tried to hide the fact he was getting really uncomfortable, but it was getting harder as the minutes went by. This ghost, Plasmius, may have been not been the best to use as a punching bag for his witty banter. It was starting to show very quickly.

"As for your second question," Plasmius began, "Why would I tell the likes of you? Like I said, you are a goody-goody. If I told you, I would have to waste my limited time on you right now and tomorrow."

Danny tried to open his mouth, even more confused, but the older ghost immediately shut him up. The younger one knew that from the sound of things, Plasmius was going to do something heinous very, very soon.

"And you are thinking 'oh look, another evil ghost to beat up'!" Plasmius mocked. "And what are you going to do about it? Suck me into that ridiculous thermos? I won't even give you a chance to be within range to do so."

Before Danny could fully process the mockery Plasmius just did of him, he was pushed back by a powerful punch aimed at his stomach. Danny went flying back into a shelf, causing it to fall backwards and cause a domino effect on the shelves behind it. It was a good thing that Jack, Jazz, and Maddie were safe in bed right now. The young hybrid didn't want to think about what would happen if they got in Plasmius's way. And if Danny drew the dots together correctly, Jack might have long ago. It was farfetched, but not out of the realm of possibility.

Danny got up and threw a ghost ray at Plasmius. However, it never reached the vampiric ghost. Instead, the elder ghost waved an arm, making a clear pink, square shield appear. The smirk Plasmius gave Danny was just annoying to the young Halfa. It was as if he was telling Danny that he was better than him by long shot and that the young hybrid would never get better.

The teenage ghost got up and tried nail the older one again. And again. And again. Danny kept getting blasted or punched back brutally, swatted away with another ectoplasmic shield, being thrown; the list just went on and on. He wound up badly bruised with abrasions littering his face and body.

Plasmius floated above Danny, looking high and mighty. Danny was exhausted to the point that his vision was starting to dim and his other senses began to become dull. He just wanted to sleep at this point. The young Halfa tried and tried to keep himself awake, but in the end, he drifted to sleep…

* * *

When Danny woke up, he shot up like a speeding bullet. His eyes darted around, looking for any possible threats. He found none, much to both his relief and concern. He had few vague memories that pointed to that something bad happened involving a ghost that looked like a rip-off version of a vampire named Plasmius.

Danny slipped out of bed and quickly rushed to the room where his parents were. He cracked open the door and saw that they were still sleeping soundly in bed. He breathed a sigh of relief and shut the door. According to the watch that he wore to bed, it was three o'clock in the morning. He was still unsure if that vague battle with that Plasmius guy was real or one really insane dream. If there was one thing he was sure about now, something felt really wrong and really off about the mansion and Vlad Masters. He just couldn't put his finger on it. Well, that was if you left out the fact the guy had a thing for his mom, a _married_ woman.

For the time being, Danny had one thing in the forefront of his mind: surviving the actual reunion without embarrassment. He prayed that his parents wouldn't try to do off putting dances that would be described as obnoxious, ridiculous, and mortifying or do something that would wish that the accident did kill him. He didn't need to see anything that would scar him for life, period.

* * *

The reunion was a nightmare that came true… Everything that Danny didn't want to see had happened. His parents were dancing badly to new wave music; several guys high on alcohol were trying to play football in the middle of the room with a bottle filled to the brim with beer, a smaller group in one of the corners playing strip poker, and a lot of other adult/stupid things happening. It was a disaster to Danny. The poor half-ghost wished he had stayed in the theater with Jazz and watch a boring documentary on the creation of the Super Bowl.

' _This is the worst moment of my life…_ ' Danny thought as he tried his best to ignore his surroundings.

With a sigh, Danny decided to get up from the table he withdrew himself to originally. He needed some air and to get away from the insanity that was the reunion. As he walked away, he ran into his mom, who was apparently now taking a break from the fun she had on the dance floor.

"Oh mom," Danny said sheepishly. "Sorry, I didn't see you there."

Maddie saw the look in Danny's eyes: the look of uneasiness and stress that have bombarded him none stop. It broke her heart to see her baby boy like this.

"Is something wrong, honey?" Maddie asked.

"I just got this nagging feeling that something isn't right," Danny said.

"Danny, listen," Maddie began, "I think I may know what is wrong."

Danny perked up, giving his mom full attention. He wanted to know what his mom was thinking. Then there was the fact she could have faked sleeping last night just to spy. And it wouldn't be the first time she done that. She did that last week to the Box Ghost, and boy did she really want to give that pest to Jack to rip up. However, in the end, she didn't. That was mainly because the idiot escaped with a box full of spare parts as "hostage". Danny did manage to get that box back in the end at least.

Maddie pulled something out of her pocket. It was the Fenton Ghost Finder. Danny was surprised she brought that device with her. Then again, he shouldn't be.

"See this blue dot right here?" Maddie asked as she pointed at one of the two cobalt dots on the screen.

"Yeah," Danny drawled out, unsure what that had to do with anything.

"Well, I managed to get this to have two different modes: one for tracking ghosts, and one for locating you in case if something bad happens," Maddie explained.

Danny cringed. His mom was tracking him. That was a nightmare come true, and he had no doubt about it.

"I know, it's awkward for a mom to be tracking their teenage son, but I care about you," Maddie said, catching the awkwardness that surrounded Danny. "But my point is that the mode for tracking you picked up something else as well."

Maddie pointed at the other dot on the screen. From where she was going with this, Danny came to the conclusion that his mother had intended that the device was only to find him, not other half-ghosts as well (which it was, but she didn't want to worry Danny with the fact she did it deliberately).

"This dot is where Vlad is standing," Maddie said.

Danny raised his eyebrows at that information. He looked in the direction Vlad was in and back at the Finder.

"So that means…" Danny drawled out.

Maddie nodded, confirming Danny's thoughts on Vlad being just like him. It was Earth shattering news in the sense that the young boy was speechless. He had no idea what to think. He was happy that he wasn't alone in this mess, but at the same time, he felt a bit sad for that reason. Being a hybrid was just not easy. Danny, despite being naïve and just a kid, he did know that if the wrong people knew about hybrids (including Human-Ghost ones) things would go to hell very quickly.

Maddie could see that Danny was thinking that thought. It was just too easy due to the fact Danny was an open book. One that people typically ignored due to the fact his cover never appealed to anyone.

' _I wish I could make this easier for you,_ ' Maddie thought sadly.

At that moment, Vlad walked over to the mother and son with a smile that Danny still found creepy.

"Ah there you are, so how are you two enjoying the party so far?" Vlad asked.

"It is pretty good so far," Maddie said. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

Vlad lit up a victorious grin that was mixed with lustful intentions for some reason. It sent shudders down Danny's spine as his cheeks turned a sick green.

' _Oh good grief,_ ' Danny thought, ' _And they say teenagers can't control their hormones!_ '

Thankfully, Maddie didn't return the lust that rusted off Vlad at all. She and Vlad began to whisper to each other. Danny watched as Vlad face went from a picture perfect show of someone of high status to the look that you would find on a little kid who got caught stealing from the cookie jar. Danny tried to hold back his snickers; the look on the millionaire was beyond priceless. When no one was looking, he took a picture of Vlad's shocked/guilty face and sent it to Tucker and Sam to tell them it was the only enjoyable thing that happened at the party of the old fossils.

Suddenly, a smug smirk graced Vlad's face. It was disguised as a genuine smile enough for Maddie to not catch it, but not enough for Danny to ignore it. That look just had "bad news" written all over it. Something just was not right at all.

After Maddie was done talking to Vlad, she had a slightly unamused look on her face (probably caused by the fact that Vlad tried to flirt with her).

"So, what's the verdict?" Danny asked flatly. "Are we officially crazy?"

"No Danny," Maddie said. "In fact, Vlad is indeed in a similar situation and wants to be your mentor."

Danny gave a questioning look, unsure if he was being for real or not. This sounded way too good to be true.

"I would be able to teach you everything I know and more," Vlad said, still holding that hidden smug look. "Doesn't that sound like fun?"

Danny internally cringed. He did want to learn more about his powers, but at the same time, he felt there was something being unspoken. Whatever it was, Danny would have to stay on guard for a while.

"I will go tell Jack the news," Maddie said. "I hope you don't mind that."

"Oh, goodness, I don't mind at all," Vlad said rolling his eyes. "It would be like… Good old times?"

' _Wow. How did you not catch that, mom?_ ' Danny thought, watching Vlad shudder as Maddie went off to go find Jack. ' _I think I should try to go get some air to clear out my head._ '

With that, Danny headed towards the exit of the party room. Behind him, Vlad gave a very sinister look.

' _Things may not be going as planned, but I still got some pawns left,_ ' Vlad thought.


End file.
